Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Infants: From Sitting to Standing (2)

As we discussed in our earlier post, it is really important never to help your child stand by pulling or pushing, using artificial props (like bouncy seats), or suspending him or her by the arms/hands.

Thank you to the parent who wrote in stressing the mental development aspect of our discussion, too. Yes, one of the main reasons why we do not help children stand is that their brains need to develop the capacity to control their bodies before the bodies are put in that position.

Balance, coordination, brain development, limb and core strength, and experience are all key factors in your infant's progress from sitting to standing.

By providing ample space for scooting and crawling activities, along with supports (discussed in an earlier post) that your infant can use to help him- or herself stand, we are providing our infants the opportunity to build the brain capacity to allow the body to stand.

Are family members bugging you to "get your baby walking"? Ignore them!

3 comments:

Thanks for another great (and succinct) post. I have a quick question - only slightly related. How should I deal with "separation anxiety"? My baby is 10 months. She can crawl and likes to pull herself into standing. But rather than do this, she mostly wants to be picked up all the time, and screams blue murder when we don't. She's not at nursery yet.

Hmmm, it's hard to say. Try starting with something really simple and calming like spending time on the floor with her, so she doesn't need to be picked up to be with you at your eye level. Will she crawl about with you? Try making a game of moving around on the floor together to get her moving and active (to take her mind off of being picked up).

At what age will she go to nursery? Does she get equally as distressed when you leave the room or leave her at home with someone else when you go out? Does she have a Montessori bed on the floor or a crib?

My daughter experienced something similar during months 10 & 11 and it was torture for me. I was not used to that with her, she had always been an independent explorer but became very clingy during those 2 months. Then a friend from church with 3 daughters recommended a book called The Wonder Weeks and that gave me hope. I believe my daughter was experiencing a couple of growth spurts, Wonder Weeks as they call them. She had just transitioned to sitting up on her own and pulling herself up to stand in those 2 months. Her army crawl was also becoming more of a belly off the floor crawl. There are 2 Wonder Weeks around months 10 & 12 that are hard hitting. The authors explain that infants become very different during Wonder Weeks. More fits, difficulty sleeping, clingy. Having that knowledge took the edge off for me but those were absolutely 2 of the hardest months for me to date with my daughter (she's 15 months now). I couldn't get anything done, not even a simple bathroom break, without her screaming and crying. She only wanted to be held. Very uncharacteristic of her before or since then. In hindsight it would have been a great time for me to try toilet learning with her but that's a different topic. I hope your daughter, Recycler, is not going through this issue anymore but if she is, there is a light at then end of the tunnel. The book encouraged me that it's just a phase during a growth spurt and it will pass.